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You are here: Home / Space / What Does The Far Side Of the Moon Look Like and Why Are There So Many Crater Impacts On the Far Side?

What Does The Far Side Of the Moon Look Like and Why Are There So Many Crater Impacts On the Far Side?

May 5, 2020 by Karen Hill

Until 1959, when the then Soviet Union sent the satellite Lunik 3 all the way around the Moon, we could only guess at what the far side was like.

Scientists wrongly assumed that it was the same as the near side.

One nineteenth-century astronomer, however, thought that all the Moon’s air and water had collected on the far side, along with the Moon’s inhabitants.

The far side of the moon has a battered, densely cratered appearance with few maria, most likely because it is the side that sees the most asteroids.

Because the far side of the Moon is shielded from radio transmissions from the Earth, it is considered a good location for placing radio telescopes for use by astronomers.

Related Facts

  • How Does the Moon Always Keep the Same Face Toward Earth?
  • What Causes the Phases Of the Moon and What Are the Different Phases Of the Moon Called?
  • What Causes the Ocean Tides and Why Are There Two High Tides Every Day?
  • Why Is There a Simultaneous High Tide On Both Sides of the Earth and What Causes the Tide Generating Force?
  • What Is the Difference Between the Near Side of the Moon and the Far Side of the Moon and Which Side Has Tides?
  • Why Is the Moon So Much Bigger When It’s Rising and Setting On the Horizon?

Filed Under: Space

About Karen Hill

Karen Hill is a freelance writer, editor, and columnist. Born in New York, her work has appeared in the Examiner, Yahoo News, Buzzfeed, among others.

Previous Post: « What Is a Moon Mare, Why Were Lunar Maria Mistaken As Seas, and What Does the Word Mare Mean In Latin?
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